


Sometimes

by Es_per



Category: Zero Escape (Video Games)
Genre: A lot of comfort, C Team OT3, Caretaking, Character with PTSD, Character with depression, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Junpei has a drinking problem, Multi, but it's a happy fic, depressed Junpei, idk why?? this is not a kink it's just fluff, post-ztd, shower scene, so like, there is a lot of washing hair and drying hair basically a lot of haircare, there is no sex in this fic only fluff, they Do Not have sex in the shower tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-17 03:54:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18957349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Es_per/pseuds/Es_per
Summary: Some days were harder than others. Some, easier. Sometimes all it took were loving partners.(Post-ZTD domestic fluff)





	Sometimes

**Author's Note:**

> I do not have depression, so I hope my portrayal of Junpei was okay. However I projected all my PTSD on Akane lmao sorry.  
> I hope you enjoy this domestic fluff! please let me know!

Junpei stood, motionless as water dripped down his body. He stared at the ceiling without actually looking at anything, gaze and mind both blank. Water hit his shoulders hard, splashing before dripping down his arms chest, and the shower glass doors were already getting covered in mist.

He didn’t know how long he stood there, too tired to even think, when a strong retching suddenly snapped him back into reality. Leaning on the wall, he fought back the spinning of his head and the sour taste in the back of his throat. Junpei gritted his teeth and punched the wall.

The warm water was starting to choke him up, it seemed he had actually spent a long time in the shower.

“Hey, you okay in there?” a man’s voice through the door confirmed that thought.

Junpei had to muster every ounce of strength in his body to answer:

“Yeah, sorry, I’ll come out now.”

He must have sounded unconvincing, because the man offered:

“Want me to come in?”

Holding a hand to his forehead as if in pain, Junpei managed to mutter just loud enough to hear:

“No, I’m…fine.”

“You’re sure…?”

Defeated, Junpei sighed and didn’t answer, allowing his boyfriend to enter the bathroom he had preferred to leave unlocked.

Carefully stepping inside the damp room, Carlos glanced at Junpei and it didn’t take any more for him to understand:

“Drank a few too many?”

Ah. That might have been why his head was spinning so much. Junpei had forgotten how many drinks he had had that day. But again, it wouldn’t have been unusual. It was his only way of dealing with that harassing fatigue he felt all the time.  
Groaning, he let Carlos undress and grab a stool that he set inside the shower.

“I bet you couldn’t wash your hair.”

Junpei sat down on the cold floor as Carlos did on the stool. He admitted he could go for a head massage right now… and some improvement on his hygiene and hair maintenance couldn’t hurt. It wasn’t by staring blankly at the ceiling that he’d get clean, but going through the motions was so tiring. Most of the time he couldn’t even shower.

Junpei closed his eyes and relaxed his neck as Carlos applied his soap-covered fingers to the sides of his head. The blond slowly went from his ears to his hairline, combing strands of dark hair between his fingers, gently scrubbing the scalp, straightening the longer hair falling on his nape between the index and thumb. Junpei figured he needed a haircut, but he didn’t care.  
Carlos continued on tracing slow circles on the back of his head and to his temples, and the silence between them was so comfortable and relaxing. Junpei felt…good, considering his deplorable state.

His boyfriend continued for a while until there was no more soap on his hands. He didn’t leave any time for Junpei to groan, replacing his touch with the warm water he directly sprayed onto his head with the showerhead, still massaging a bit to make sure every drop of soap was rinsed away.

He then gently kissed the top of Junpei’s head and wrapped his arms around him. Junpei looked up at him, revelling in the warmth of his embrace, and brushed his lips with a kiss.

“You’re the best.” he gratefully smiled, an echo of the cheerful boy he used to be.

Junpei didn’t like to ask for help, to be vulnerable. But just this time, in the arms of Carlos who was looking so fondly at him, maybe just this time he could allow himself to be cared for.  
The nauseous feeling had almost faded away, his head had stopped spinning, and he slowly ran his fingers through the golden curls. Wasn’t Carlos his saviour from the start? Even when it would have been better to leave him to die, like in that memory he retained but couldn’t pinpoint when he had lived-… His face darkened as he tried to think of something else, and he gripped Carlos’ arm tighter.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Carlos whispered, sensing the change in his mood and softly kissing his temple.

But Junpei knew he thought about it too, sometimes. At night, when he believed no one could hear him, Carlos would sometimes get up and go stand on the balcony, watch the city sleep until he could as well. He would always check up on the others once he got back to bed, as if to make sure he hadn’t lost them while his back was turned.

They all feared they would lose the others.

Junpei got up, turned around and hugged Carlos back. The man caressed his nape before softly grasping it. Pressing their foreheads together, they both closed their eyes and simply stayed there for a while.

They opened their eyes and Carlos smiled: “I have to shower now.”

Junpei nodded and stepped out of the shower. He dried himself with a towel and put on a new pair of boxers and a shirt before exiting the bathroom.

He stepped into the cool bedroom, and Akane looked up from her computer.

The girl he loved. He also still hated her sometimes. Hated what she had made him go through. Hated that she had disappeared, run away after all he had done to save her. In his dreams he sometimes wandered about, calling out her name, and he woke up with a deep feeling of grief in his chest. Sometimes he saw her, burning in fever, dying in his helpless arms. Sometimes he dreamt he was drowning, reaching for her hand as her body sank deeper than his.

But Junpei knew. Junpei knew she would sometimes freeze at any moment, and her eyes would get stuck on something -anything, and she would get engulfed by a fear so deep nothing could reach her. Sometimes she would frenetically glance behind her back although she was alone. Sometimes she would have nightmares of losing him, too.

They all feared they would lose the others.

Akane greeted him:

“How was your shower?”

She was aware it was a feat for him.

“My hair smells fucking nice, smell it.” Junpei said as Akane got up from her desk and gave him a sniff followed by an approving nod.

The ring at her right hand shone briefly as she ruffled his hair with a smile. Akane then kissed his cheek, and she placed her hands on his waist. Junpei rolled his eyes but quickly gave in and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. He could feel her snuggle against him, burying her face in his chest as if she was trying to carve herself into him, and he held her tighter.  
Her skin was soft and she smelled nice too, of light violets and fresh laundry.

“…Your hair is still wet.” a muffled complaint came from his chest and he smirked.

Snorting, they pulled apart and Akane grabbed the hair-dryer on her bed as she gestured for Junpei to sit.

Plugging the hair-dryer into the outlet near the bed, she sat behind him, sprawling her legs on each of his sides. A loud sound came out of the machine as she turned it on and started drying Junpei’s hair, ruffling it around. Her nimble fingers gently massaged the scalp, making sure all the water was dried away. Junpei closed his eyes. It wasn’t so bad, getting taken care of, sometimes.

“So,” Akane spoke over the blaring sound “Carlos and I were planning to go out this week-end, do you want to come?”

Junpei quietly hummed. He was feeling okay right now, maybe he would be able to go out if it kept on. Usually he’d sit around the house with a pack of beers, trying to suppress the nagging feeling of emptiness in his heart, and he’d pretend to fight his lassitude by absent-mindedly looking through the files Seven had sent him. So if he could spend the day with his partners, he’d fight like hell to stay well enough.

He wondered how Akane could keep working so much on something so demanding and complicated as quantum physics. But it was precisely because she couldn’t think about anything else. So if she could spend her day actually having fun, he wanted to be a part a part of it.  
Junpei gently squeezed her leg and she kissed his temple.

“There you go.” she finished and unplugged the hair-dryer.

At the same moment, Carlos stepped out of the bathroom. He kissed Akane on the nose and she giggled, pretending to push him away.

“Man, I’m hungry.” Junpei suddenly realised. It wasn’t often that he paid attention to his body, and all the alcohol he drank usually messed up his perception of hunger and mealtimes. It was Carlos and Akane who regularly reminded him to eat, although he was slowly learning to imitate their schedules.

“Hasn’t anyone cooked up anything yet?” Carlos asked in surprise.

Akane and Junpei looked at him with puppy-dog eyes, and he held two hands between them.

“Hey, come on..! I’m not gonna cook again, it’s been a week!”

“But your cooking’s the beeest…” Akane tried to coax him. “You know I can’t even make a simple fried egg!”

They both looked at Junpei. He insisted:

“She’s right, you know. Without you I’d still be eating Cheetos for dinner.”

Appalled at his partners’ disastrous cooking skills -and to think he had _two_ partners! Carlos dropped his arms:

“Okay, fine! Pizza?”

If they were disappointed not to get the chance to enjoy his cooking, Akane and Junpei showed none of it and jumped for joy at that single word.

Akane grabbed the phone and dialled the number of their favourite pizzeria. She was the only one of them able to make a phone call without too much trouble: Junpei found talking to be exhausting, and not being able to see the other speaker made Carlos sweat.

While she was ordering two large pepperoni and one Hawaiian, Junpei offered Carlos to apply his usual healing cream on his scars. The two under his pectorals were old enough, although they sometimes still throbbed slightly, but more important were the different in nature and fresher scars on his arms and back, including recent burn scars that he’d often get from dangerous fires.

Junpei gently rubbed the cream on the white skin, pinkish old scars next to large new ones, careful not to press too hard. He then kissed Carlos’ shoulder and pat it once he was done. Carlos smiled, silently thanking him, and Junpei noticed he looked tired. He had been at the fire station a bit too often that week, and one could say that week-end was long-awaited.

Junpei felt guilty he couldn’t do much to help around the house. It was always Akane who did the chores to help Carlos because it kept her busy. Junpei could only stare from the bed he struggled so much to get up from. So he would compensate by helping like that, by making sure Carlos was feeling okay.   
To him, it wasn’t nearly enough, but he knew Carlos appreciated it more than the world.

Carlos extended an arm on the back of the sofa, and Junpei snuggled against him. Akane crashed down next to them.

“So, what do you guys wanna do this week-end?”

“You’re coming?” Carlos looked at him in delighted surprise, and Junpei ran a hand on his nape.

“Yeah, I’ll try…” he flushed as Carlos fondly grinned.

They waited for the pizzas as they planned their week-end and chatted about nothing. When the doorbell rang, Akane rushed to the door and snatched the pizzas from the delivery guy before handing him the money with a large smile.  
Junpei tried not to drink while they wolfed down their food, and his partners supported him by only drinking soda. Carlos tried to convince him pineapple qualified as a vegetable he’d have to eat for a balanced meal, and Akane suggested they should jump back in time to have more pizza, an idea for which she was severely punished by Carlos tickling her to death.

Their eyes crying from laughter and their stomachs full, they decided it was time to go to bed. They all dreaded that moment. Junpei knew he’d toss and turn for hours on end despite how tired he was. Akane would wake up covered in cold sweat. Carlos would stay awake, thinking of what they knew too well. But they all wanted the night to pass faster so they could wake up on that week-end.  
They were all in this together. Akane grabbed both their hands, facing the bedroom doorway. They looked at each other.

“My bed?” Carlos suggested. They all nodded.

Sometimes they’d sleep together, sometimes in their own beds. But that night, Carlos laid on his back and wrapped his arms around his partners on each of his sides, kissing their heads before wishing them good night. The slow beating of his heart gently lulled Akane and Junpei to sleep, the steady rhythm of their breathing on his chest regulated his own, and they all fell asleep peacefully.

Sometimes, they wouldn’t have nightmares.


End file.
